“Leadership, Landscaping & Legacy: Steve Griggs on Building Teams, Brands & Outdoor Spaces
The Mike Litton Experience
Mike Litton
5.0 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 26 September 2025
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Welcome to The Mike Litton Experience, where we dive deep with elite entrepreneurs, leaders, and visionaries who are shaping industries and building powerful legacies.
In this episode, I sit down with the legendary Steve Griggs, founder of Steve Griggs Design, an award-winning luxury landscape design firm with over 40 years of experience. From high-end outdoor kitchens and dream pools to full-scale residential transformations, Steve’s projects span New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Georgia, and even California.
But this conversation goes way beyond design…
We dig into:
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Leadership psychology
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How to inspire teams without yelling
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Why questions are more powerful than commands
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The secret to dealing with employees, contractors — and even teenagers
What You’ll Learn:
How to lead with curiosity, not control The power of asking questions instead of giving orders Real-world strategies for holding a high standard without micromanaging How to build a team that takes ownership of their work Why building a cool backyard is a genius parenting move Insights from Steve’s journey of reputation, relationships, and results
Whether you’re a business owner, team leader, parent, or aspiring entrepreneur — this episode is packed with practical psychology and hard-won wisdom that you can use today.
About Steve Griggs:
Steve is the founder of Steve Griggs Design, a nationally recognized landscape architecture firm serving high-net-worth clients across the East Coast and beyond. With decades of industry experience, Steve has become the go-to expert for luxury outdoor living environments — including custom pools, hardscapes, kitchens, and full estate transformations. He’s also known for his high-integrity leadership style, his commitment to quality, and his ability to bring out the best in people through conversation, not confrontation.
Follow Steve on Instagram:
@stevegriggsdesign
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | whatever. Despite the rain, despite, because people say, I couldn't get it done, the rain, |
| 0:05.5 | whatever, the weather, the permit, I will have you swimming by August, July 4th weekend, |
| 0:10.4 | no questions asked. And you have to come across with that conviction, right? And that's it. |
| 0:16.9 | Once you get that, you've got to perform. You have to trade as electricians, plumber, lighting, sound |
| 0:22.3 | guys, irrigation, planting crews, masonry crews, pool guys. There's a lot of moving parts. So you have to be |
| 0:28.7 | able to coordinate all those people together. And they basically look to me for the guy that is going to make it |
| 0:35.9 | happen. Basically, I'm a conductor in an orchestra. |
| 0:39.8 | You kind of have to, there are people. |
| 0:42.0 | Everybody forgets, they, whatever, but you try to like nip it in the bud ASAP. |
| 0:47.5 | Yeah, one of the things that I do is I'm talking to them about, listen, I want you to treat |
| 0:52.6 | this house. |
| 0:53.7 | Like yours. Like, exactly. Like, you're going to live here for the next 30 years. Okay. That these neighbors are going to be your neighbors for the next three decades. You need to make sure that you are a kind neighbor. Sometimes I can help them. Sometimes I can't. Right. I mean, but I think it comes from the, I mean, 40 years is a long time doing this, right? You've just seen a lot. You've got a lot of war stories. You know what to look for. You just experience. That's really all of this. If you're new out there in business, just have some patience. You're not going to get the gray hair right away. Did you know there's a technology that's actually an app on your phone that uses sound waves to tell your brain what you want your brain to do? |
| 1:34.1 | We had a young man that was a guest on our podcast, the Mike Litton experience, who had a traumatic brain injury. |
| 1:40.0 | He was sleeping three hours a night. |
| 1:41.9 | He's using Newcom now and he's sleeping more. |
| 1:43.8 | Go to Newcom.com. |
| 1:45.8 | Mike 15 promo code. |
| 1:47.7 | Newcom promo code Mike 15 for an extra 15% off. |
| 1:51.4 | Go today. |
| 1:52.6 | Welcome to the Mike Litton Experience podcast. |
| 1:56.7 | Everyone has a story and our passion is to help them tell it. |
| 2:01.3 | Mike is passionate about being a father, a teacher, a realtor, an investor, and a leader. |
... |
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